Paleo diet is healthier for overweight women

P.C. Luis Quiroz Ravines

A study from the Umea University in Sweden reveals that overweight women undergoing a paleo diet manage to maintain long-term weight loss achieved with that diet. Additionally, the risk factors for cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes also decrease.

Caroline Blomquist, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine at Umeå University says that although the women in the study ate unlimited, after 2 years the weight loss was stable. The results are remarkable, concludes the researcher

The study included 70 overweight women, all postmenopausal, with a mass greater than 27. Due to lower estrogen production in menopausal women, the consumption of very energetic foods and reduced physical activity, this group has a higher risk of obesity.

The women were divided into two groups: the first group was given a paleo diet and the second group a Nordic diet Both groups had no restriction on the amount they were allowed to eat, the composition of the diet was the only element to consider.

The first control was carried out at six months and the second after two years.

It was found that both groups lost weight, the paleo diet group dropped an average of 87 to 78 kilograms while the group that followed the Nordic diet dropped an average of 86 to 80 kilograms.

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Both groups benefited from a reduction in fat tissue, better blood circulation, and less inflammation.

In the group of women who followed the paleo diet, the reduction of unhealthy abdominal fat and the reduction of certain fatty acids in the blood was notable, which has an incidence in cardiovascular diseases and in the development of type 2 diabetes. Less activity was also observed in the enzymes responsible for the storage of fats.

What is paleo diet

he Paleo diet tries to answer the question: What did Paleolithic men eat? Currently, the paleo diet is very popular although it has its advantages and disadvantages. The paleo diet is also known as hunter or gatherer diet or caveman diet.

The characteristic of the paleolithic diet is the consumption of unsaturated fats, low glycemic index proteins. This diet consumes many vegetables, fish, eggs, poultry, fruits, nuts, seeds, seafood, etc
There are many paleo recipes.

That is, it is believed that paleo diet works with the same foods that our paleolithic ancestors probably consumed.

Loren Cordain, Ph.D., professor of health and exercise sciences at the Colorado State University. and author of The Paleo Diet, says that this diet has a healthy proportion of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids, a higher proportion, and consumption of vitamins and minerals, decreases the glycemic load of the body and seeks an optimal balance of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins.

These nutritional patterns have been adapted to our current genetic evolution that has a healthy influence on health and well-being.

Returning to the study, from the Umea University of Sweden, it is concluded that paleo or caveman diet, with a large proportion of unsaturated fats, vegetables and fruits was healthier for the group of women who followed it for more than 2 years than the Nordic diet group, although in this group women also lost weight, fat reduction was less significant.